Dear SSJ-Forum Members,

On Monday 28 July the Economic Security Intelligence Lab (ESIL) at the Universiy of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) will host a brown bag lunch seminar where two visiting researchers from Europe and the United States will present emerging research on the law and politics of economic security.

 

This summer, ESIL has had the pleasure of hosting several visiting PhD students from different disciplinary backgrounds while they have conducted fieldwork for their dissertation research in Japan. At this seminar, we will hear from our most recent guests: Tim Ellemann and Tim Cichanowicz. 

 

• Tim Ellemann is a PhD Researcher in the Department of Law at the European University Institute and Assistant Editor at the Journal of International Economic Law. He researches the practice of technology controls in economic security policies within the broader contexts of international economic law, and has previously worked on investment screening at the European Commission. 

 

• Tim Cichanowicz is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kansas and team lead at the Trade War Lab. He researches international political economy and foreign policy with a particular focus on economic security, the politics of trade, and East Asia.

 

We will also be fortunate to have Professor Mari Shimizu (University of Osaka) and Professor Hideyuki Miura (Kyorin University) - leading Japanese experts on the law and the international political economy of economic security respectively -- join the seminar as discussants. 

 

Please feel free to bring along your lunch! The seminar will be conducted in English and moderated by me (Victor Ferguson). Coffee will be served and there will be time for casual discussion among attendees before and after the presentations (which should last approximately 60 minutes including Q&A).

 

Walk-ins are welcome, but pre-registration would be appreciated to make sure there is enough coffee.

 

【 Event Details】

 

Date: Monday, July 28, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 13:30
Language: English
Venue: 2nd Floor Mezzanine, Building #3, Komaba II Campus, RCAST, The University of Tokyo (4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 〒153-8904)

【 Research Details】

 

Presentation One: The Borders of Trade Law: Facilitating and Restricting Movement of Ideas Through Economic Security Instruments

 

Presenter: Tim Ellemann (PhD Researcher, Department of Law, European University Institute; Visiting Research Student, RCAST, The University of Tokyo)

 

The notion of "technology leakage" is increasingly used to justify European economic security policies, despite growing concerns that Europe is lagging behind in many key technological sectors. Taking the regulatory framework on inbound and outbound investment controls as the starting point, this paper considers how inherited assumptions about technological advantage continue to structure Europe's legal responses, even as global innovation dynamics shift. This misalignment risks producing overly broad regulatory responses that might inadvertently hinder European companies from innovating through cooperation with foreign firms. Drawing on technology transfer literature and comparative insights from the Japanese economic security approach, the paper explores a reorientation of legal frameworks from static origin-based risk assessments toward more dynamic, function-based ones. 

 

Discussant: Mari Shimizu (Professor, Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Osaka)

 

* * * 

 

Presentation Two: National Security or Protectionism? The Determinants of Which Traded Products Become Securitized

 

Presenter: Timothy Cichanowicz (PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Kansas; Visiting Research Student, RCAST, The University of Tokyo)

 

How do policymakers decide which traded products become securitized? The deglobalization movement is resulting in policymakers debating the merits of maintaining economic ties between democratic and nondemocratic states. Products as varied as semiconductors, electric vehicles, consumer drones, and even garlic are being debated within democracies as items worthy of having their trade limited on national security grounds. What determines which products become securitized and why? I examine theories of top-down national security decision-making and bottom-up special interest-driven trade politics to determine what pushes legislators to securitize products traded bilaterally between democracies and geopolitically distant states. To test these theories, I gather every China bill written in the contemporary United States Congress from 2018 until 2024. Of these bills, I take the bills that, if passed, would limit bilateral trade between the US and China and then code characteristics of the bill as well as the traded product securitized by them to test which explanation is most robust in determining how US-China trade becomes securitized.    

  

Discussant: Hideyuki Miura (Professor, Faculty of Social Science, Kyorin University)

 

We look forward to seeing everyone on the day.

Sincerely,

Victor

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Victor A. Ferguson

 

JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology

University of Tokyo

https://www.victoraferguson.com